4. Wren
Meadow Ridge Academy
For as long as I can remember, I’ve dreamed of being here. Everything about Meadow Ridge Academy amazed me. From the classes they offered to the dorm rooms and halls, it was a shiny present, just waiting to be unwrapped.
My brother and I used to spend hours talking about what we would do while we were attending, the classes we would want to take, and the parties we would go to.
The two of us coming here wasn’t just a dream. It was a certainty, as it had been for our parents and their parents before them. For generations, our family has attended, and we never even considered the possibility of breaking that tradition. Being legacies was a highlight for us.
Now, as I head to my room, I wish I could be anywhere else.
What I wouldn’t give to be someone else, as far away from here as possible.
But I know better than to hope for the impossible.
Hopes and dreams only build unrealistic expectations.
The only way I’m getting out of here is with a degree in two years.
Nothing can change that, no matter how much I might wish it could.
My only real hope is to take some extra classes and maybe get out sooner, but I get the feeling this isn’t going to be a walk in the park after the way these first few hours have gone.
With only my bag and the small box in my arms, I make my way up to the top floor. I hadn’t had enough time to pack more than this, but I didn’t really need much. Everything important to me lived in my bag, hidden away and ready at a moment's notice should I need it.
I could have taken the elevator, but the stairs gave me more time to get myself together. Time I desperately needed, seeing as I’d started halfway through the year. Already behind before I was even through the doors.
310, 311, 312.
Here it is, the place I’ll call home for the next three and a half years. As bad as it might seem, it can’t be worse than the house I grew up in; nothing is. Not anymore.
It wasn’t always like that. Once upon a time, I would have come here and felt homesick, impatiently waiting for a break so that I could go back to a loving family. But those days feel almost like a dream now, memories so long forgotten that they might as well belong to someone else.
I count to ten in my head, allowing myself a moment to breathe before lifting my hand and slamming my knuckles down on the door three times.
No going back now.
Time ticks by more slowly as I wait for someone to answer the door. So damn slow that for a second, I worry nobody will answer.
Wouldn’t that be ?fantastic? I finally made it here only to be locked out because the admin didn’t have a key for me yet, despite knowing I was coming. Yeah, that would be my fucking luck.
The door finally swings open, startling me from my annoyed thoughts and leaving me face-to-face with one of the hottest guys I’ve ever seen in my life.
He’s tall, lean, and covered in tattoos, up his neck and down his arms onto his fingers, which are covered in rings. His eyes are dark like liquid chocolate, warm and playful.
He leans out into the hall, his forearm braced on the doorjamb, his short-sleeve shirt giving me an eyeful of his tan skin, tattoos, and muscles as he peers down at me.
His hair is messy, longer on the top to fall in his face and shaved short on the sides, but beyond that, it’s bright blue.
He’s breathtaking and probably the reason I can’t seem to get a word past my suddenly dry lips.
“Guys! Housekeeping’s here. Anyone got anything?” he calls out, turning back into the dorm and leaving me standing in the doorway.
“Housekeeping was here yesterday.” Someone calls from farther in the room.
Peeking around the guy who answered the door, I spot a dark head of hair on one of the two couches in the center of the room, his back to me.
Even from here, I can see that he’s tall, at least as tall as the guy in front of me, maybe taller.
Before I can think much more about it, the sound of heavy steps pulls my attention to the far side of the room.
What the fuck.
If I thought the other two were tall, this guy makes them look average at best. On top of being tall, he’s also built like a brick wall.
I’ve never seen someone so big in my life.
He’s like the professional bodybuilders you see on shows or scrolling Instagram late at night.
His black muscle shirt is loose, showing off a lot of skin, not a single tattoo or blemish in sight, and his gray sweatpants make me understand a little more why girls constantly gush about them.
He walks past the couches and disappears into another room without so much as looking at the other two or me.
Something tells me he’s not happy to see me or anyone that might come to the door.
“Sorry, pretty girl, we're all good here.”
It takes my brain a moment to process the fact that his words are directed at me. By the time I do, the door is already swinging closed in my face.
With only a second to spare, I put my foot out, wedging it in the door and stopping it from closing.
It’s not my best idea. Pain flares in my foot where the door hits it, but I ignore it in favor of looking back up at the now-confused, beautiful face that stares back at me.
“I’m not housekeeping,” I tell him in way of explanation as he watches me, taking a step back as I push the door open once again.
He doesn’t say anything as I step into the dorm enough to let the door fall closed behind me, but when I turn to face him again, I find a smirk on his face and mischief shining in his eyes.
He’s trouble.
“This is my room.”
My words wipe the smirk from his face as his brows knit in confusion before his eyes dart to the couch.
Following his gaze, I find the dark-haired one now turned toward us.
His arm slung over the back of the couch as he looks between the two of us.
His face is less telling than his friends, but I get the feeling he’s confused.
Join the club.
Neither of them says a word as I stand there, and I have to fight the urge to squirm. This isn’t exactly what I wanted either, but I don’t dare tell them that. It was bad enough when I learned I was sharing a room with four guys. Learning they had no idea either isn’t exactly helpful.
Not to mention the fact that they look like, well, this. What the fuck do they feed these guys for them to be so damn big? Hell, the biggest one probably eats a whole cow a day. Anything less, and he’d be starving.
Speak of the devil. As if the thought of him summons him back, he walks back into the room with a bottle of water pressed to his lips.
“Why are you still here?” His voice has a hint of gravel that makes his already rude question sound even harsher.
Yeah, no, fuck this. I don’t care how good-looking or big he is; he can shove that attitude up his ass. I’m seriously not in the mood.
“This is my dorm,” I bite back and watch with more satisfaction than I should get as his brow jumps ever so slightly at my tone.
“Well, aren’t you just a little ray of sunshine?”
I choose to ignore Blue’s comment in favor of holding the big guy's gaze, but it’s impossible to miss the sass in his tone. The big guy doesn’t seem to miss it either, as his eyes dart behind me, narrowing ever so slightly before returning to me once again.
Clearly, he’s the one running this show.
“In case you didn’t realize, cupcake,” he says the word like it leaves a bad taste in his mouth, and I can’t stop myself from pulling a face at the way it sounds. “This is a guy's dorm, and it’s full. So why don’t you head back down to the admin office and see if they can’t get you sorted out?”
The moment he’s done speaking, he’s moving, further proving that he is, in fact, the head of this little group of assholes.
Too bad for him; I’m not one of his lackeys.
“Nolan Ford, Julian Spade, Theodore Miller, and Gavin Asher, room 312,” I say, making him pause before he turns back around to face me, a storm brewing in his chocolate eyes.
“And I’m pretty sure I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be, regardless of how any of us might feel about it.
As for the nature of the dorm, I’m not an idiot, thank you.
I can see that you’re all males, but given that this is a co-ed dorm, it’s not out of the ordinary for both males and females to occupy the space here.
” I keep my voice steady by some miracle, even as his eyes narrow with every word out of my mouth.
“I think, if the dorm were co-ed, we would know. This isn’t my first year here, honey, and I’ve never heard of a co-ed dorm system anywhere in the school.”
I turn to find the dark-haired one on the couch, now looking my way with the same narrowed gaze as the big guy.
Fuck, I didn’t want to have to do this so soon, but it looks like there's no getting around it.
With a sigh, I turn back to the big guy and swallow my disgust. So much for lying low and just getting out as fast as possible. I should have known the universe would never let that fly.
“Ask Gavin.” I’m not sure how I get the words out with how hard my teeth are clenched together, but I know they hear me loud and clear.
“What?” the troublemaker asks, clearly shocked that I would ask for him specifically. I can’t say I blame him. I never thought I would see the day either, though I’m sure they don’t know that.
“Gavin!” The big guy’s bark echoes around the room, and I can’t stop myself from flinching at the sheer volume. Thankfully, they all seem too focused on the doorway he just came from to notice.
It only takes a moment. I hear his feet against the hardwood floor, and I raise my chin and stand up straighter. Not that it will matter; Gavin has always been taller than me, and if these three are anything to go by, I’m sure he’s probably even bigger now.
Unfortunately, nothing my mind imagined was close to what I pictured.
How could it be? The last time I saw him was three years ago.
He was still all awkward limbs and puberty back then.
His voice cracked, and he could hardly talk to a girl, well outside of me.
He seemed to have no issue talking to me, but I guess smack-talk at a decathlon isn’t really the same thing.
“Wren?”